Air cleaner



- May 7' J. F. OB-YRNE AIR CLEANER Filed May 12. 1926 mm BY ATTORNEYPatented May 17, 1927.

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.zApplication filed Kay "12,

This invention relates to improvements in dev ces for separating dust,when, andmoisture from air or gases.

It is often desirable to remove dust or other solid matter from gases orfrom air, and it is also often desirable to remove moisture from theair.

In the operation of. automobiles it has long been recognized that thedust that enters the engine cylinders when the machine travels overdusty highways actsas an abradant and causes the parts to wearexcessively, and for the purpose of removing the dust from the airbefore it enters the engine various devices have been proposed. Manypeople are sufferers from the dis-. ease known as hay fever andexperience has shown that they suffer most during the sea-. son when theair is full of pollen and fine dust, and 'that they are apparently wellas long as they breathe pure' clean, air free: from dust and pollen.

It is the object of this'invention topro duce a device that can be'usedfor removing.

26 dust and. pollen from the air before it enters dwelling houses aswell as for cleaning air for automobile engines. Another use to whi h myinvention can be put is to r'emove' moisture from air}, before 3 itenters a dwelling house. This. is very' desirable in places wheretht'eniperature is high and the air is humid as human. beings are quiteuncomfortable when the tempera.-. 'ture'is about 85 F. and'the humidity98%,

for in these circumstances very little ev'aporation of perspirationtakes place, and hence very little latentheat'of evaporation dis.-vvappears. V i

It is the object of this invention also .to remove moisture from the airused for blast furnaces withoutlowering the temperature of the air. Itmust be understood that the.

' air has been pa'ssedthrough refrigerated chambers so that the moisturewould c'onrv dense on cold pipes in some blast furnace installations,thus losing the heat originally contained in the air, 'while' removingthe moisture. 1

The object, then, of this invention is to produce a simple d'eviceybymeansof which the above objects may be attained in an effective way andat a reasonable cost.

The apparatus by means of which the above objects are'attai'ned\villnowbe described in detail and reference for the pur pose will be had to theaccompanying draw- 1926. Serial No. 108,550.

ing where the preferred-embodiment has beenjllus-trated andin which,- iI 'Fig. is a top plan view of an internal COlHl'JUStIUD engine which hasbeen equipped with my improved;.dustseparator. Fig. 2

ma section taken on line LL"of Fig. 3.

1 Fig. 3- is a section taken on line N of to the primary of the hightension transformer-10 in which the voltage is stepped up to the desiredvalue. ,The high tension secondary of" the transformer 10 isconnected toa rotary rectifier 11;of-any-well known and suitableconstruction; whichI serves to charge the wires 20- and 25 with high potential pulsatingcurrent of constant polarity; In Fig; 1 the rectifier-has been turnedthrough 90f and is shownin plan view; this-hasbeen done-in orderto simplfy the draw1ng.- Numeral l2 designates' the separator tube which is openat both ends,

and is constructed ofinsulatingmaterial.

A discharge pipev 13 of insulating material extends into the-tube 12 andhas 'an angular bendso that its open end is-concentric with the tube12in the manner shown in Figs.

.2 and 3. A pipe 1 1 is connected to the pipe 13 in the manner shown inFig; 1'. and' connects it with the intake manifold 16. An-

other pipe-.15 extends from the junction of pipes 13Hand14 to theregister 26-.which connects with .the interior of the ear. body.

A valve 27 controls the passage through pipe 15. .Numeral 17 (Figs. 2and-3) indicates a bearing. for: the end of shaft' i,.and.18=deslgnatesatwo blade fan. or propeller that .is secured to the shaftn i atits:end, and. sets up an .air currenti'in the direction vofthe arrows;Directlyin-frori't of .the fanI18 is a section 21 that has a pluralityofparallel longitudinal openings and whichnre ients the air frombeingset in rotary motion by the fan blade. The high potential positivewire'20 extends into the interior of the tube 12'and. in line with theaxis of the opening in tube 13. A cylindrical electrode 22 is embeddedin the material of the tube 12 and'is connected with the high tensionnegative conductor 25.

Let us now assume that the engine is operating and that the clutch .5 isclosed it will produce a partial vacuum in the manifold 16 and this willcause air'to flow from the interior of pipe 13 to the man fold. When thedust or moisture ladenair comes into the zone of influence of the elec--trode 24, which is charged with positive electricity, the dust particleswill become positively electrified and will be repelled y the electriccharge on the electrode 24 and attracted by the negative charge on theelectrode 22 and will therefore travel outwardly towards the electrode22 thereby passing by the sides of the tube 13. The air that enters thetube 13 will therefore be free from dust, pollen, and moisture, and willbe clean and dry. Where it is desired 'to regulate the moisture the airwill be dry when conductors 24 and 22 are positive and negativerespectively; but will be very moist when the polarities of theseelectrodes are reversed as the particles tend to move toward thenegative electrode.

in hot moist climates the device can be employed with great advantage inprovid-' ing dry air to dwellings. The dry air increases evaporation andthis helps to cool the body and increase its comfort.

It is important to understand the operation of my device in connectionwith blast furnaces, namely. that it removes the moisture from the air,and retains in the air after taking out the moisture all of the heatoriginally there. This dry air saves in fuel the number of caloriesrepresented by the latent heat of evaporation of the contained moisture,and therefore results in a large saving in fuel.

In addition to the above uses there are alarge number of other uses towhich the device can be put among which may be mentioned the cleaning ofair for operating rooms in'hospitals. Also the cleaning of air for paintshops. It is obvious that the device can be used wherever clean air isdesired.

racemes I am aware that dust collectors employing the principle of myinvention have been made and I therefore intend to limit my claims toimprovements in the apparatus.

Having described my invention, I claim as new:

l. A dust separator comprising. in combination, a tubular member ofinsulating material. a second tubular member extending through the wallof the first tubular memher, and having its open end locatedconcentrically inside the first 'n'ieinher, means for causing a currentof air to flow through the first mentioned tubular member in a directionopposite to the direction that the. open end of the second memberpoints, a high tension'electrode located axially of the tubularinembers, a cylindrical electrode located in the walls of the firstmentioned tubular member and means for charging said electrode to a highpotential.

2. A dust separator comprising, in combination, a tubular member ofinsulating materlal, means for causing a stream of air to flow throughsaid member. a second tubular member of insulating material having oneend within the first member and opening in the direction from which theair comes, an electrode located centrally of the tubular memberbetweenthe end where the air enters and the open end of the secondmember. a cylindrical electrode enclosing said central electrode andmeans for main causing a stream of air to flow through the same, a pipehaving an opening within the tubular member, said opening belng towardthe air stream, an electrode within said tubular member, a secondelectrode enclosing the first mentioned electrode and means of chargingeach of said electrodes with high potential charges of electricity ofopposite polarity.

4. A device for separating gaseous from non-gaseous material,comprising, in combination, a tubular member of 1nsulating ma terial,means for causing a current of gas to flow in one direction, anelectrode located 'within the tubular member and extendinglongitudinally thereofi a: second electrode enclosing the firstelectrode, means for charging said electrodes with high potentialelectricity of opposite polarity and a conduit opening within thetubular member the opening in said conduit being in axial alignment withthe longitudinal electrode.

- JOSEPH FRANCIS OBYRNE.

